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- Radio Cairo presents: “19th century Egypt”

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- Egypt’s heritage they expect to time immemorial, yet our traditions today differ from those of older times.

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- In the past century Egyptians had their own lifestyle.

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- In this program we shall witness how customs and traditions change from one century to another, but still how this nation retains its authenticity.

- « 19th century Egypt » is a program prepared and presented by Suleimane Amani and Produced by Osama Kamel

- In the last edition of « 19th century Egypt » we stopped inside the part of the house allotted to the women or the females of the household.

- In this edition we shall go into more details concerning women of the past century in Egypt.

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- Though the women had a particular portion of the house allotted to them, they enjoyed some liberty to go out and to visit, as well as to receive a female visitor almost as often as they pleased.

- The servants of course being subservant to their ladies and husbands did not have any liberty.

- The care of the children was the primary occupation of the ladies of 19th century Egypt.

- They were also charged with the superintendence of domestic affairs, but in most families the husband alone attended to the household expenses.

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- The leisure time of those ladies was mostly spent in working with the needle, particularly in embroidering handkerchiefs and veils with coloured silks and gold.

- Many women, even in the houses of the wealthy, made some money by ornamenting handkerchiefs and other things in this manner.

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- The ladies of the higher orders never went to shop but sent for whatever they wanted and there were (newer women or) female brokers who had access to the havings

- and bought all kind of ornaments, articles and so on for sale to the ladies.

- These ladies did not also visit the public baths and thus invited to accompany some of their friends, for most of them had baths in their own houses.

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- The visit of one woman to another often occupied nearly all day.

- They spent their time on these visits eating, smoking, drinking coffee, gossiping and displaying their finery.

- On such occasions, the master of the house was never allowed to enter the room, unless on some particular and unavoidable business.

- In this case he must give notice of his approach and let the visitors have sufficient time to veil themselves or to retire to another room.

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- On some occasions, as the birth of a son or the celebration of a wedding, professional female singers and dancers were introduced.

- Not only for the mere amusement of the women but for performance in front of the house or in the court,

- for Egyptian ladies of 19th century Egypt took great delight in the performances of professional musicians and public dancers and often amuse themselves and their guests.

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- In the lower orders of the 19th century Egypt, which mainly consisted of farmers, women seldom passed a life of inactivity as did those of the higher ones.

- In fact, some them were even condemned to a greater task than the men.

- Their chief occupations were the preparing of the men’s food, fetching water that they usually carried on their heads in vessels and in spinning cotton.

- These women were in a state of a much greater subjection to their husbands than it was the case among the superior classes.

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- A woman from this low class was rarely allowed to eat with their husband but she waited upon him and his guests.

- When she went out with him she walked a few steps behind him.

- Some women in the towns kept shops and sold bread and vegetables and thus contributed as much as their husbands or even more than the latter to the support of the families.

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- We will know take closer look at the customs and traditions followed by Egyptians in the 19th century for marriage.

- It was very common for a man to marry his first cousin.

- In such cases the husband and wife continue to call each other cousin, because the tie of blood is stronger and indissoluble than that of matrimony.

- A union of this kind was more lasting on account of this tie of blood.

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- Most commonly, the mother or some near female relation of the youth or a man who wanted to marry

- described the personal and other qualifications of the young woman with whom she was acquainted and directed his choice,

- or else he employed a woman, a khotba, whose regular business was to assist men in such cases.

- Sometimes 2 or more women of this profession were employed.

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- The khotba gave her report confidentially, describing one girl as being pretty and elegant and young and another not as pretty but rich, and so forth.

- If the man had a mother and any other near female relation, 2 or 3 of them usually went with the khotba to pay visits to several harims

- to which she had access and the professional character of a matchmaker, for she was employed as much by the women as by the man.

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- The women who accompanied her in search of a wife for their relation were introduced to the different harims nearly as ordinary visitors and as such,

- if disappointed, they soon took their leave, though the object of their visit was of course understood by the other party.

- But if they found among the females of the family a girl or a young woman having the necessary personal qualifications, they stated the motive of their visit.

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- The women visitors having asked their questions brought the report to the expected young man.

- If satisfied with the report he gave a present to the khotba and sent her again to the family of the intended wife to make known to them his wishes.

- She in turn gave an exaggerated description of his personal attractions to the family of the girl.

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- We came to the end of this edition and next week we shall talk about the customs and the traditions of marriage in 19th century Egypt.

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